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June 15, 2008 - 11:15 am
The Rev. Canon Grant Carey
Many years ago when I was a young priest in my first parish, there was a very old man who lived near the church. One day Tom stopped to talk to one of our ladies who was planting flowers in the garden. And in the course of conversation, he told her that he had been a widower for more than twenty of his 93 years, ... most of his friends had died, ... and his only child, who lived in the Bay Area, rarely visited. When our parishioner invited him to come to church, he came.
One Sunday shortly after he started to attend Saint Johns, we had the baptism of a child. Tom told me that he had never been baptized, and he wondered if maybe he was too old. I told him one was never too old to be baptized.
Tom and I spent a lot of time discussing the meaning of baptism and how he would become a member of the Family of God just as if he were a little child; how, even at 93 he, would begin a new life in Christ; how Jesus his Lord would open doors of opportunity for discipleship since, in the words of the old Prayer Book, he would now become Christ's faithful soldier and servant until his life's end.
On his baptismal day, Tom was surrounded and supported by his newfound family, and as I poured the water and said the words of baptism, he began to cry.
"This is the happiest day of my life," he said.
He knew without a doubt that the Lord had called him to follow him, and he had responded in faith.
At baptism, every one of us is touched by the Spirit of God and called to ministry.
Though he knew it not at that moment, Tom's was to be a ministry of witness, even though he was to live only a short while longer.
In today's Gospel we heard how Jesus chose twelve seemingly ordinary men, several of whom were fishermen, none of them distinguished by education or professional expertise.
But the fascinating truth is that, with the exception of Judas, these very ordinary persons changed the whole course of world history. They left the confines of Palestine and ventured out into a world beyond their imagining.
It is unlikely that any of them was fluent in the language that was most widely spoken outside of Palestine, Greek; or that they had a knowledge of geography, or of the dangers they would encounter.
What they did know was that they were called to a journey in faith, one that would take them to many parts of the then known world - - Asia Minor, Greece, into Rome; India; Syria; Egypt, Spain, and, as we Anglicans like to believe, even to Britain.
All but John, died a martyr's death because of their faith in Jesus, and their burning desire to share that faith with any and all who would hear them.
Someone once observed that when Jesus called the twelve to follow him, he was not looking so much for extraordinary people, as he was for ordinary people who could do ordinary things extraordinarily well.
Paul puts it this way: "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise..." (I Cor 1:27)
Jesus saw in each one of his disciples not only who and what they were, but also who and what they might become. And this is just as true today as it was then. He chooses us not only because of who and what we are, but also for who and what we might become once we are open to his power and his love and his strength.
How truly marvelous is the story the Church! ... That after 2000 years, while empires have fallen, governments have toppled, institutions have come and gone, the Church remains. And it remains because there are still ordinary people who are capable of doing extraordinary things.
It seems to me that the lesson is very clear. The power and the love and the strength of God that enabled the twelve is as present now in the lives of Christ's disciples as it was when He called them and sent them out to do his work, to. "Proclaim the Good News, `The Kingdom of Heaven has come near'. Cure the sick. Raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons..."
We are his disciples! And none of us should think that he or she has nothing to offer. What is obvious is that Jesus can take what ever we offer him and use it to his glory ... whether these are some barley loaves and a few small fish, or bread and wine, or the tears of gratitude from a 93 year old.
This was true in Palestine in the First Century. And it is true here in Sacramento in the Twenty-first.
It is true because, as with Tom, when we are baptized, we are born into the Community of Faith, into the family of the Church. And having been sealed by the by Holy Spirit, we are marked as Christ's own forever.
We may not be sent out into all the world in order to accomplish our mission; but we are called to serve him with joy wherever we may be.
All we have to do is look around us in order to discover that there is work for us to do ... that we are called to ministry, ... whether that means bringing comfort and encouragement to others, ... reaching out in love and compassion to those who are alone, or standing up for what we know is true, right and good ...
Whatever the task, Jesus continues to choose disciples, even you and me, and empowers them to carry out his work in his world.
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